SOC313H1 Lecture Notes - Restorative Justice, Erving Goffman, Social Fact
Document Summary
, understood as the imposition of some form of censure or sanction in response to a deviant act obviously. Punishment constitutes an important mode of social control. Innes" focus is on issues of penality, defined as the complex of ideas, institutions, rules and practices pertaining to punishment. Analyzing punishment as a mode of social control involves exploring how punishment should be performed and how it is performed. The majority of debates have assumed that some form of punishment for deviant acts is necessary. Consequently, what has tended to be debated are the aims, justifications and methods to be employed. We feel that punishment, if it"s appropriately designed and implemented, should work. Philosophical theories of punishment can be distinguished between those that see the primary objective of punishment as being the prevention of future crimes and those that focus on punishing crimes already committed.